Stories and otter things

Monday, 22 October 2012

TV Reality

Lying on my nest this evening I had the misfortune of spending time in the company of 'Cowboy Builders' on Channel 5. Now, I have every sympathy for anyone who has been the victim of a dodgy tradesman, and in this case the offending artisan deserved all he got. However the journey I found repellent.
Bad builders are not exciting enough it appears. The presenters set about creating a monstrous narrative that a bad extension was destroying the victims' family.
'So how old is your daughter?'
'nine'
'So she has spent two years in this chaos.'
'sniff'
Now sorry. whatever this bad builder had done, it was not destroying the resiliently cheerful girl's childhood. But the presenters were clearly desperate to batter some tears out of the parents and mined away at this angle until they got the result they wanted. Noxious stuff.
My previous foray had landed me 10 minutes in the company of something called (i think) Emergency Bikes. A programme so mundane that a Police Officer stopping a man without a tax disk was worthy of air time. We can all rest safely in our beds in the knowledge.
Accept it. We need a revolution. Surely the cultural climate is barren enough for something wonderful to happen next.